Lee was getting ready for school when she got a call. "Isn't it midnight there?" She looks at Kwon.
"Yeah, you still have a Korean clock on your phone." He was sitting against a headboard.
"Of course, you think I've been calling you without knowing what time it was there." She leaned her phone against the vanity mirror.
"I didn't know you text me whenever." He remembered the text at three in the morning.
"Texting and calling is different. Calling is instant and texting is whenever you get to it." She didn't know he hadn't put his phone on silent before bed.
"So, anything new?" He watches her put on foundations.
"Well… ummm…" She didn't know why she was nervous about telling him.
"Come on." He whines out.
"Eli and I broke up." She blurts out.
"Who broke up with who?" He asks.
"He broke up with me." When she looked at Kwon she knew he deserved to break up with her.
"Fucking idiot." He let out a bitter laugh.
"We're going to different colleges. He wants to do that single. I prefer him to break up with me now than to cheat on me." She admires him for being honest with himself.
"Presley, we got mail from Caltech." Her dad's voice got closer.
"What?" She ran out of frame, so all Kwon was getting was voices.
"It's the big one." He waves around the large envelope. She screams and hugs her father tightly. He spun her around. "Let's make it official. Open it." He held it out to her.
She opened it. "Dear Presley Cole, Congratulations and Welcome to Caltech." They jump around holding hands and laughing.
"Okay, you get ready for school. You have to graduate, so you can live your dream." He squeezed her shoulders.
"Did you hear?" She ran to the phone.
"Congratulations." He nods.
"Did you hear back?" She sat down.
"Yeah, I'm going to get that business degree. I'm going to make a dojo chain. I'm going to be filthy rich." He closed his eyes as he imagined it.
"The future is bright." She smiles. Her phone alarm went off. "Shit I got five minutes to leave the house and I only got one of my eyes done."
"Just wipe it all off and go fresh face. You don't need it." He gave a simple solution.
"Thank you for the compliment, but I would rather die." She decided to be late for the first period.
He tsked at her. "Now, you're going fast and doing a clown job."
"Kwon!" She grabbed a wipe to clean her left eye and redo it.
"I got into Caltech." Lee ran into the dojo. Her friends cheered for her.
"Congratulations." Sam hugged her.
"Thank you." She smiled at all her friends who came to congratulate her.
"Miguel, jump around with me." She grabs his arms and jumps.
"Alright. Alright." He joined her while laughing.
"Enough celebrating, let's stretch for practice." Demetri put a stop to the excitement.
"Buzzkill." She stuck her tongue out at him. They made a circle as they stretched.
"Aisha got into UC Santa Cruz," Sam told the group.
"That's great." She touched her toes.
"Have you heard anything from Stanford?" Sam looks at her boyfriend.
"I've been checking my emails, like every day, but nothing." Miguel shook his head.
"Don't stress. It'll come. Demetri hasn't heard from MIT yet, so…" Eli tried to make him feel better.
"Yeah, I did…. I got in." Demetri said it like he was recalling what he had for breakfast. Lee and Sam stare at him with slack jaws.
"What?" Eli and Miguel were shocked.
"Why are you all so surprised? I worked my ass off and I earned that spot. That would be like Lebron James getting turned down by the Lakers." He shoots an invisible basketball in Eli's direction.
"We're not shocked you got in. We're surprised you didn't say shit. You've been going on and on about MIT for weeks about the things you'll do when you get in. Then you get in and go radio silent. What the hell?" Lee slapped his shoulder.
"Most people say congrats." He rubs his sore spot.
"Screw your congrats. You took that damn pause between saying you heard back and that you got in. I had a mini heart attack." She repeatedly hits him.
"Okay, my god, you hit hard for someone who looks so soft." He moves out of her reach.
"Did you just call me fat?" She gasps.
"I would never." He ran when she came for him. Miguel laughs watching Demetri try to swerve through people to lose her.
"Were they always like that?" Sam looks at Eli.
"Yeah. Demetri talks too much shit then Lee gets aggressive. I normally break it up, but he'll be going to school by himself so he's going to have to learn." Eli was bitter at him for all the cheap shots he's been taking at him.
Lee tackled him to the ground, before turning him over and pinning him down. She gathered spit in her mouth before letting a long thread dangle. "No, No, No." Demetri turned his head to the side and squeezed his eyes and mouth shut.
Johnny and Daniel came out of the house. Johnny's loud laugh filled the air. "Johnny…" Daniel sighs.
"Fine… Lee, he's a member of Sekai Taikai. Unless you plan to replace him, get off." Johnny was disappointed about her not trying to get a spot.
Lee sucks the saliva up and spits on the grass by his head making him scream. "Jeez, how are you going to handle the toughest karate competition?" She put her hands on his chest to use as leverage to stand up.
Demetri gasps on the ground, getting the wind knocked out of him. "I assume they won't be using body fluid as a weapon."
"Stop rubbing where I touch you, you're so dramatic." She grabs his hand to force him to stand.
"You are such a school ground bully." He mutters under his breath.
"Alright, gather around." Daniel waves for them to come over.
"Your karate daddy is calling." Lee teases while skipping over.
"Who's your karate daddy, Johnny? Never mind, don't answer that." He put a hand up when he saw her devilish smile.
"The Sekai Taikai needs our final roster in three days. And now that we know who's going, it's time to name our male and female captains. The captains are not just the leaders of the team. They're the ones that will be fighting in the finals if we can make it that far." Daniel explained what was coming next.
"Plus, they get to fight on live TV. Who knows what comes after that? Wheaties Boxes, chop-socky flicks, ZZ Top videos. Sky's the limits." Johnny motivates them.
"Not one current reference." Lee shook her head.
"You'll all get glory if we win, but yes the captains will be in the spotlight. They need to represent the best that Miyagi-Do has to offer. Sensei Lawrence and I assure you that this decision will be completely unbiased." He thought that was necessary since both their kids were in the running.
"That's right. In two days, Sam will face Tory for the female captain spot. Robby and Miguel will fight for the male captain." Johnny gave the process for choosing this.
"We know you fought plenty of times before, but now that we're on the same side, this is still the best way to see who progressed the most." Daniel saw Lee's hand go in the air. "Lee?"
"If it is about seeing who progresses the most, does that mean you can win the fight but not get the captain spot?" She asks.
"Not, you win to get the spot." Johnny looks at Daniel while shaking his head. "You have to remember most of them are nerds, they analyze everything you say."
"Why are you telling me this? Are you watching what you say?" Daniel looked shocked.
"Yeah, I'm around kids. Let's get to practice. Come on you four I'm going to whip your asses into shape." He waves for the four to go into the house.
"Shouldn't you be there too?" Lee was sparring with Devon.
"I thought so, I want personal training to get better." She watched with envy as Johnny used a pitching machine to hurl beer bottles at them. Lee kicks her in the side. "Hey!"
"You have to start playing your cards, instead of imagining what's in the other person's hands." Lee fakes left to go right.
"What?" She whines at the right hook to the chest.
"You got a straight flush but you're too scared to play because you think everyone else got a Royal flush. You need the courage to put all your chips in because you could take it all." She put it into more detail.
"I don't know poker." She did block the next hit.
"The point I'm making is that you're amazing but you're imagining everyone better. It's why you're half-assing everything because you've already decided you lost in your head." She swipes her legs. She puts a foot on her chest when her back hits the ground. "See?"
"You know I think you might have wanted that spot at Sekai Taikai, the way you lay the people who are going flat." Johnny lifts an eyebrow.
"I'm just trying to get Devon out of her funk." She took her foot off and helped Devon to her feet.
"Let's talk." He nods towards the house.
"Don't you have to teach the four?" She looks at the teens out of breath.
"It's over." He holds up his phone to show the time.
"Okay." They sat on the steps to the house. The teens gathered their things and left. "So…" She wonders why he wanted to talk to her.
"You should be going to Spain. You know it and I know it." He points to his chest then at her face.
"I thought you wanted Devon to go." She didn't think he had a problem with her not trying out with how focused he was on Devon making it.
"I do. I believe you could have knocked Demetri out of his spot. Now, I want a real answer to why you didn't. None of that I don't need this bullshit. You could have donated the money to charity or something." He wanted the real reason.
"When I went to Korea I found an underground fight club. I went a lot." She leaned back on her hands.
"So what, you got your ass kicked and now you don't think you can compete nationally." He didn't think her spirit would be broken so easily.
"No, I won every match. I broke something from my opponent every time. Before every match, I told myself I wouldn't. I would fight to win and not to hurt. In the middle of the fight, this rage takes over." She knew ethically it wasn't right.
"I can teach you restraint." She looked at him, not convinced. "I could have. When people step onto the mat, they know they are at risk of being hurt. You don't have to feel bad about it."
"I don't feel bad. I liked it…. No, I loved it. The rush of the crowd cheering when I stood over a blood opponent thrashing in pain, I never felt more powerful." Despite what Kwon said, she couldn't feed into the impulse.
"That's the fighting spirit kid." He pats her head. She stared at him with an open mouth before closing it. "What's wrong?"
"Someone told me that before." She laughs that she found a young Johnny Lawerence.
"Lucky you to have two smart people in your life." He ruffled her hair.
Lee was at the dojo to watch the fight for the captain spots. "Miguel and Robby, you're up first." Daniel was refereeing the fight. "First to three points wins… face each other, bow." He watches them do so. "Fighting position." They took a stance while letting out aits. "Fight." They were avoiding each other's hits until Miguel swiped his feet, knocking him over. He hit his chest. "Point Diaz." Daniel points to his corner. "One Point Diaz, Zero Points Keene."
"Fight." Robby came harder with kick after kick but Miguel was able to spot an opening and kick him hard in the chest almost sending him flying off the mat. "Point, Diaz, two points."
"Jeez." Lee rubs her chest, feeling sympathy pains.
"One more and he wins." Daniel reminds Robby. He got up and nodded his head. "Two points to zero."
Tory joins the crowd giving Robby more focus. He got a point on Miguel with a fist to the shoulder. "Point, Keene."
Tory moved through the crowd to get a better view. "Hey, Tory." Lee nods. "You good? You look like you haven't slept." She looks at her bloodshot eyes.
"Yeah, I'm ready for this fight." She nods, her eyes not leaving the deck as she moves closer.
Lee shared a concerned look with Demetri. "She looks like a zombie."
"Yeah… patient zero." He nods.
"Point Keene." Daniel pulls their attention back to the deck. "Two to Two. The next point wins. Ready… fight."
It was a good fight with them using their best moves. Miguel doing his Superman punch. Robby did his spinning kick. Miguel went to kick him, but Robby caught his legs and used the momentum to flip him on his back and then punch his chest. "Point, Keene." Daniel pulled Miguel to his feet.
"No hard feelings?" Robby asked.
"No man." Miguel shook his head. They fisted bumps making Lee cheer.
"Your male captain, Robby." Daniel put his hand in the air.
Miguel joined them in the crowd. "Hey, you're still going to Sekai Taikai. Being on the winning team is an accomplishment that Stanford will look at." Miguel had been put on the deferred list by his dream college. He thought getting the captain's spot would make them look at him again.
"Yeah." He nods slowly.
"LaRusso, Nichols." Johnny pointed at the mat for them to join them. "Bow to me then to each other."
Sam held out her fist and Tory slowly put hers out to fist-bump it. Lee went over to Robby's side. "When did you guys stop practicing last night?"
"Pretty early because she had to pick up her mom's medicine. Why?" Robby wonders.
"Her eyes are vacant. Something's wrong?" She didn't know how he didn't notice.
"No, she is just psyching herself up for the fight." He looked to the deck when Johnny yelled fight.
Tory moves were slopey. Her kick was way off from hitting Sam. It wasn't surprising that Sam got her on her back and a hit to the chest. She got up and went to the wrong side before correcting herself. "She's nervous." Robby could feel Lee glaring into the side of his head.
"Fight Position… Ready?" Tory went before Johnny said. Sam was able to dodge it. They were having an even exchange of hits until Tory kicked her in the face. "Point, Nichols." Tory delivered a kick to the chest. Sam looks betrayed while the crowd is shocked.
"You said she didn't answer your calls?" Lee was piecing things together.
"Hey ref, that's overkill, there should be no point," Daniel argues.
"I'm handling it." Johnny put his hand out.
"I'm fine. I'm fine." Sam assured them.
"That's a warning, next point a deduction." Johnny nods to Tory. She didn't acknowledge him.
"The last thing we know is that she was picking up her mom's medication." She went over to Amanda. "Can you check your emails?"
"Why?" She tilts her head.
"LaRusso, Two to one." Johnny updates them.
"Because you're Tory's emergency contact?" Amanda's phone rang making her take it out to see the hospital. The women shared a look and rushed to the side. She answered the call. "Hello… What?" Lee knew by Amanda's face that she was correct in her assumption. "Thank you for calling me." She hangs up. "Her mom passed away. We have to stop the fight."
Amanda ran to her husband while Lee went to Robby. "Robby, her mom passed away last night."
"What?" He looked at her in shock. "How did you know that?"
"The hospital called Mrs. LaRusso because they were concerned about Tory." She explained. "That's why she is fighting to hurt."
Daniel went on deck to stop Tory from smashing her fist into Sam's face. "The fight's over."
"That's not fair. That could have been a point." Tory looked ready to cry.
"What the hell are you doing man? I'm the ref. I'll decide when the fight's over." He points all his fingers to his chest.
"I'll explain. I promise." He pulled Johnny to the side.
"Please, don't stop the fight, Please," Tory begs.
"We can't do it in front of everybody." Daniel didn't want her to feel humiliated.
"I'm fine, Dad. I told you I wanted to fight Tory head-on." She felt like she was getting robbed too.
"It's not that Sam. it's not. Please, girls…" Daniel wanted to be delicate about the situation. "Off the deck, let's go." He wanted some space to talk to Johnny in private.
"Don't tell them what to do. I'm their sensei too." Johnny argues.
"Then end the fight." Daniel insisted.
"At least tell me why?" Johnny was tired of Daniel treating him like he was dumb.
"Because my mother died," Tory shouted.
"Troy, I'm sorry for your loss. We can't continue this fight. It's not the time." He knew how he was when his sensei passed away.
"No, I want to fight. I have to fight now." She points to the ground.
"No, Tory, I want to fight too but this is not right." She didn't feel good about seeing her friend so emotional.
"Sensei Lawrence, some help here, please." He looks back at him.
"It's not up to us, if she wants to fight then we should let her fight." He nods to her.
"No, we can come up with another way to come up with a captain." He shook his head.
"Another way, no. I have to fight." She turns to Amanda and walks to the ends of the deck to be closer to her. "My mom would want me to fight. I have to fight for her. I have to." Tears slowly ran down her face.
Robby jumped up to be next to her. "Let's take a second to breathe."
"No Robby, no." She shook her head.
"Breath." He repeated because she was on the verge of hyperventilating.
"I know what you're feeling but I also know you're not in the right headspace to decide." Amanda grabs her hands.
"No, you just don't want me to beat your daughter." She pulled away from her touch.
"No." She shook her head.
"When push comes to shove, you're going to choose her over me." She put some space between them.
"It's not that, Tory," Daniel assures her.
"We're not taking sides." Amanda nods.
"Are you sure about that?" Johnny put his hands behind his back.
"Johnny?" He was offended by the accusation.
"You want this fight to be over? Fine, it's over." She jumps off the deck to walk away.
"Where are you going, Tory?" Daniel yelled.
"I'm done." She screams. They watched as she got smaller and smaller.
The senseis rushed into the house to scream at each other. The students couldn't hear what they were saying but they could hear the tone. "So, is Tory out?" Devon said what everyone was thinking.
"She doesn't want to be on the team." Demetri shrugs.
"She earned that spot, whether she is captain or not, she should be going." Robby couldn't believe she did that.
"Are you going to check on her?" Lee looks at Robby.
"Tory doesn't want to see me right now," He told her.
"What?" She tilts her head.
"I know, Tory. She likes to process alone. When she is ready to talk she'll find me. I know her." He knew Tory would push everyone away until she was ready to let people in.
The Senseis came out, making the students go silent. They went on the deck, and the students gathered around it. "People going to Sekai Taikai step forward." Devon, Sam, Miguel, Demetri, and Robby did.
"Training for the Sekai Taikai has been hard on all of us. But training is over, while most of you won't be going to Barcelona, we know you'll be with us in spirit." Daniel looks out at the dojo.
"Since Tory won't be going with us. We decided Hawk will take her spot." Johnny watched the mohawk move forward to stand next to Demetri, who was not pleased he was up there.
"You six will be fighting for Miyagi-Do. It will be the toughest challenge you've faced yet. To win, we're going to need to be there for each other." Daniel looks at the teens.
"All of us as a team." Johnny looked at Daniel pointedly.
"Captains, step forward." Robby and Sam took a step towards the deck.
"Chris, bring up the official Sekai Taikai captain headbands." Johnny nods to him. Chris brought up the box they were sent. They each put it on their offspring.
Lee knocks on Tory's door. "Do you have to knock like you're the police?" She slammed the door open.
"You weren't answering when I was being polite." She held up a bag. "I brought you lasagne and brownies. My grandma made them."
"What are you here for? You're going to talk me into going back? I'm not going somewhere when the best I can do is second place." She sneers.
"So what if you're not captain? If the team wins, the money is going to be divided up the same. You're going to need that money for a custody attorney. I've done my research, the girl who made the most money wasn't the captain. It was another girl on the winning team. She got a model contract." She made her argument. "So screw the whole LaRusso family? Don't let them take your shot."
"I'm not giving up on anything. I'm not going to settle for a supporting cast. I'm taking my starring role." She held her door firm to keep it half open.
"What? What are you going to do?" She narrowed her eyes.
"Thank you for coming, Lee. And, for dinner." She took the bag before shutting the door on a confused face.